Edge & Grocott is a maker's mark that you will be hard-pushed to encounter. Figures marked Walton, Salt, and even Hall will cross many collectors' paths, but not so Edge & Grocott. In fact, I have only managed to record five. And the sad part is that of the five, the best two were unpainted.

The two little figure above are the best two of the five Edge & Grocott figures I have recorded. Both are pearlware, but colorful enamels were not applied. In other words, these figures missed the last stages in the production process, but perhaps this was deliberate. Each figure is clearly marked EDGE & GROCOTT on a banner on the reverse.

While the figures themselves are very like those other potters made in the 1820s, the bases are rather distinctively shaped--and these distinctive bases are invaluable in pointing to an Edge & Grocott attribution. This very same base has been recorded on three additional figures painted in colorful enamels. Each figure is marked, but the mark is illegible....but in all probability it was intended to read EDGE & GROCOTT. One of these figures is shown below.

The illegibly marked, colorfully enameled figure, sadly, all have had significant bocage restoration. Frustrating, is it not, that the unpainted figures are in so much better condition than their painted brethren?

The very first Edge & Grocott figure I encountered was in the home of the late Griselda Lewis, an amazingly knowledgeable collector who generously shared what she knew with me and many others. Griselda told me that she had spotted her figure on a shelf in Jonathan Horne's stock, and she had immediately recognized it at a distance as Edge & Grocott. Sadly, Griselda passed away last year, so the figure--the unpainted pearlware putto at the top of this article-- came to auction recently, and I hope it has gone to an appreciative home.As for who the men are behind the Edge & Grocott name....well, you can read all about them in Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840, Volume 1. And please contact me if you come across an Edge & Grocott figure.

The potter who marked his work WALTON is, we think, a man by the name of John Walton. Although the man himself is a mystery, we do know that he made more marked figure models than any other potter. Among these, is this small pair, a shepherd and shepherdesses.

In cataloging ALL the WALTON figures, I noted that there was also a lone figure of a shepherd, quite different from the shepherd in the little pair above. Here you see him with two different bocages. This lone shepherd is rather puzzling, for where there is a little shepherd, surely there must be a little shepherdess???

Courtesy Roger de Ville.

My search for the shepherdess was rewarded this month when I found this lovely little WALTON shepherdess on eBay.

She stands well with the lone shepherd, so I do think that they were intended as a pair--Walton's second version of this subject.

Sadly, the lone shepherd and shepherdess are united only on this page, but in reality they are in different collections. I don't know who owns these figures, but if the owners get in touch with me, perhaps we can reunite them.